tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/land-defenders-92712/articlesland defenders – The Conversation2021-10-27T13:14:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1695892021-10-27T13:14:29Z2021-10-27T13:14:29ZIntense police surveillance for Indigenous land defenders contrasts with a laissez-faire stance for anti-vax protesters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428278/original/file-20211025-15-1a8fk95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=125%2C89%2C2869%2C1778&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">State surveillance has a big impact on the way RCMP treat Indigenous land defenders. Listen to our podcast for more info. Here, RCMP officers walk toward an anti-logging blockade in Caycuse, B.C., in May. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jen Osborne </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, starkly contrasting news images have been circulating of two significant conflicts in Canada. <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/topics/fairy-creek-blockade/">One is the ongoing land defence against forestry companies in Fairy Creek, B.C.</a> Those protests have been <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/police-violence-fairy-creek">met with extensive police repression</a>. The others are a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/world/canada/vaccine-passports-protests.html">series of anti-vax protests across Canada</a>. Conversely, they look like they’ve been met with laissez-faire police responses. </p>
<p>While the contexts are significantly different, with many diverse factors, the contrast in police responses says much about the way certain types of protesters are treated and viewed in Canada.</p>
<p>Surveillance practices have much to do with this.</p>
<p>Surveillance is the collection of information for future ends. Information gathered structures how future police operations unfold. Some have defined surveillance as the “<a href="https://www.surveillanceincanada.org/">systematic focus on personal information with the intention to influence, manage, entitle or control those whose information is collected</a>.” </p>
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<img alt="Book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427811/original/file-20211021-19-1b793q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427811/original/file-20211021-19-1b793q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427811/original/file-20211021-19-1b793q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427811/original/file-20211021-19-1b793q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427811/original/file-20211021-19-1b793q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427811/original/file-20211021-19-1b793q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427811/original/file-20211021-19-1b793q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The author of this article wrote: ‘Policing Indigenous Movements.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Fernwood Publishing)</span></span>
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<p>In recent years, <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-indigenous-movements">Indigenous land defenders have lived under increasing police and state surveillance while far-right, conspiratorial movements have not</a>. Police have a long history of surveilling social movements in Canada, especially leftist, Indigenous, queer, Black, feminist and other marginalized groups.</p>
<p>Information collected by state and police is central in producing a picture of the people they are trying <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/sorting-things-out">to control or influence</a>. It shapes how the subjects of surveillance are understood, characterized and then intervened upon. </p>
<h2>Surveillance distorts perceptions</h2>
<p>Police surveillance invariably constructs an image of deviance and criminality, characterizing the subjects of surveillance as threats to public order and civic values. For example, police have characterized <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-indigenous-movements">Indigenous land defenders as “extremists” and have used national security resources</a> to amplify and distort land claims conflicts as security threats. </p>
<p>Constructing groups or individuals as criminal or security threats creates a negative cycle, reproducing a need for further surveillance and police intervention. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/logging-company-clears-cree-nation-ancestral-trail-without-recourse-154921">Logging company clears Cree Nation ancestral trail without recourse</a>
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<p>Over the past 20 years, protest policing tools have experienced a significant professionalization and standardization that rely on surveillance for pre-emptive interventions. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2012.727607">Some scholars have named this police-management approach as strategic incapacitation.</a></p>
<p>Surveillance is at the core of this approach which aims to suppress social movements: it enables the targeting of particular, prominent and outspoken organizers; it facilitates intelligence collection on groups and movements to produce counter-messaging; and it gathers the knowledge of planned protest activities to control strategic geographic access points. </p>
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<img alt="a helicopter is seen flying in the sky" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427804/original/file-20211021-22-151ub4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=161%2C0%2C2748%2C1827&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427804/original/file-20211021-22-151ub4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427804/original/file-20211021-22-151ub4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427804/original/file-20211021-22-151ub4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427804/original/file-20211021-22-151ub4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427804/original/file-20211021-22-151ub4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427804/original/file-20211021-22-151ub4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A RCMP helicopter is seen patrolling the area in Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C., Oct. 4, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span>
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<p>Without surveillance, the control of protests and protest space becomes much more reactive and far less organized. This is the precise imagery witnessed in the policing of anti-vax conflicts.</p>
<p>Fairy Creek, on the other hand, has been structured by a history of surveillance of land defenders and Indigenous groups and, because of the pre-existing knowledge and categories produced by police surveillance, has been the site of a far more violent policing response. </p>
<h2>Pre-existing stereotypes lead to excessive force</h2>
<p>Not only does pre-emptive surveillance provide the tangible, practical tools to engage in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26573404?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">tactics of strategic incapacitation</a>, it also shapes the identities of both the land defenders and the police through pre-existing categories and stereotypes. Surveillance is a key mechanism by which these categories and belief systems have been produced and these organizational histories inform and prefigure contemporary practices. </p>
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<img alt="a slice of a tree is carried sideways by a group of people outside the legislature building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427827/original/file-20211021-23-csl8uj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427827/original/file-20211021-23-csl8uj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427827/original/file-20211021-23-csl8uj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427827/original/file-20211021-23-csl8uj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427827/original/file-20211021-23-csl8uj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427827/original/file-20211021-23-csl8uj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427827/original/file-20211021-23-csl8uj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A 1,200-year-old slab of yellow cedar from the old-growth forest carried by Fairy Creek land defenders members at the Victoria legislature on Oct. 4, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito</span></span>
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<p>This broader factor can help explain <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fairy-creek-aggressive-police-behaviour-accountability-1.6157076">the zeal and excessive force enacted by police at Fairy Creek</a>: land defenders were not only characterized as criminal but also represented a symbolic threat to Canadian identity. Indeed, the conflict is highly representative of settler-colonial policing where the police are not only a vehicle for “law and order” but also a frontline in the defence of society’s values.</p>
<p>This dynamic was particularly apparent with the appearance of <a href="https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/rcmp-union-responds-to-fairy-creek-decision-says-officers-embodied-the-thin-blue-line-1.5605123">“thin blue line” patches</a> on RCMP uniforms at Fairy Creek. The patches depict a grey and white Canadian flag with a blue horizontal line through it. Despite having unequivocally <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/saint-john-police-thin-blue-line-patch-1.6116085">racist and colonial meanings</a>, and despite a management directive against wearing them, the RCMP police union has supported officers sporting the patches.</p>
<p>Notably, the appearance of the patches played a role in the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-fairy-creek-protesters-vow-to-carry-on-despite-new-injunction/">B.C. Supreme Court’s</a> decision to end their injunction that blocked people from protesting against logging companies. The decision, although <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fairy-creek-injunction-appeal-1.6204905">since appealed with a temporary injunction put back in its place</a>, was a rare rebuke of police misconduct. It will, however, likely do very little to change the organizational practices that produced the police response at Fairy Creek.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/ca/podcasts">Click here to listen to Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></span>
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<p>If the police feel they have the right and duty to protect notions of Canada’s “social values” <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/pacheedaht-fairy-creek-bc-logging/">in the forests of Pacheedaht territory</a>, there are significant — potentially unsurpassable — organizational practices that shape, enculture and grow a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26380302">deeply colonial belief system sustaining these police operations</a>.</p>
<p>One cannot change an organization’s culture or everyday practical circumstances without reckoning with its embedded cultures and histories. Police organizations have a terrible track record with the kind of critical self-reflection that would be a first step <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/racialized-policing">at correcting this legacy</a>.</p>
<p>As the police response at Fairy Creek can be explained by an excess of surveillance and the organizational practices that flow from criminal categorization and surveillance, the laisser-faire police response to anti-vaxxers can be explained by a lack of historical surveillance. A lack of regularized, ritualized surveillance means that the characterizations of a movement do not travel through the labelling process that makes a group potential criminals, outsiders or social threats. </p>
<p>The solution should not necessarily be more policing of these groups. Like other social problems, more policing will do little to address the far-right or anti-vax conspiracy grievances. </p>
<p>However, much more important knowledge can be drawn about the belief systems within police organizations. Based on current indications, we should have significant concerns about the effectiveness and legitimacy of police organizations being involved in these responses. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Monaghan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In recent years, Indigenous land defenders have lived under increasing police and state surveillance while far-right, conspiratorial movements have not.Jeffrey Monaghan, Associate Professor, Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1566332021-03-10T17:52:50Z2021-03-10T17:52:50ZIndigenous land defenders: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 6 transcript<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388636/original/file-20210309-23-yyelqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=67%2C6%2C4425%2C2997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline set up a support station at kilometre 39, just outside of Gidimt'en checkpoint near Houston B.C., on January 8, 2020. The Wet'suwet'en peoples are occupying their land and trying to prevent a pipeline from going through it. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/65e610f9-842e-4091-b314-c985dc941f17?dark=true"></iframe>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-land-defenders-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-6-156632">Episode 6: Indigenous land defenders</a>.</p>
<p><em>NOTE: Transcripts may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.</em></p>
<p><strong>Vinita Srivastava:</strong> From <em>The Conversation</em>, this is “Don’t Call Me Resilient.” I’m Vinita Srivastava. </p>
<p><strong>Anne Spice:</strong> For me, I think the land defender is not a title that you claim for yourself. It’s an action. And it’s about the practice of actually being on the land and reclaiming ancestral territories and territories that are under attack. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> In this episode, we take a look at Indigenous land rights and the people on the front lines of these battles. These are the land defenders fighting to protect land against invasive development. Both my guests today have stood up to armed forces to protect land. Their work to defend land is about protecting the environment, but it is much more than that. It is fundamentally about survival and the right to live openly on what is stolen land. Ellen Gabriel has been resisting land encroachment for 31 years. She was at the centre of the 1990 Kanehsatake resistance. You might know it as the Oka Crisis. It was a 78-day stand-off to protect ancestral Kanien’kéha:ka land or Mohawk land, in Québec. It was a moment in history that many say helped wake them up to Indigenous issues. Anne Spice is also with me today. She is a professor of geography and history at Ryerson University. Anne who is Tlingit from Kwanlin Dun First Nation was recently on the front lines in the defence of Wet'suwet'en Land. After she was arrested on Wet'suwet'en territory last year, a viral video showed the RCMP pointing a gun at the land defenders. In the video Anne can be heard shouting “we are unarmed and we are peaceful.” These are the moments that capture our collective attention. But Ellen and Anne’s work goes well beyond what the cameras show. I’m honoured they could both join me today to explain what it’s like to be on the ground, day in and day out, why they do what they do and how someone might join in the land back fight. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Are you guys ready to jump in? </p>
<p><strong>Ellen Gabriel:</strong> Sure. Just give us direction. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Ellen, during the 1990 Kanehsatake resistance the Canadian government sent 2,000 police and over 4,000 soldiers, along with armoured vehicles and helicopters, to subdue your communities. So, I know it’s complicated, but for those that are unfamiliar with the issues, what were you fighting for? What are you still fighting for? </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> It’s always been about land since Europeans have come here. It’s about land. It’s dispossession and Indigenous people being criminalized for standing up for what is their right, which is to protect the people and the land. So being at the front line, as you call it, it’s not an easy thing. You have to have a will of steel. You know, you have to teach yourself to remain calm and not go for the provocation of whoever is up against you, which is really difficult because, as you know, I’ve been doing this for what’s going on 31 years now. And you get tired, you get frustrated. And the fact that the government who created the problem is just sitting back and not doing anything and just waiting for a violent confrontation to justify the use of force and to devalue and discredit and silence our voices is extremely maddening. You know, where we don’t own the land, the land owns us. We are her people. And I think that’s why we do this, is that people understand their ancestral teachings, is that we need to protect the land for this generation and for future generations. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I watched the Obomsawin documentary again the other day, and I heard you say that, you know, as the trucks rolled in and the SWAT team came out, that you were with three women and you just sort of looked at each other and your instincts kicked in and you said something about being a woman and your role. </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> The women are title holders to the land and the protectors of the land. And the men’s obligation is to protect the women who are protecting the land. Title to the land goes through us and we have not been respected as we see in the Indian Act, attacked the authority in the roles of women. So it’s a huge obligation because we need to fight a government that has infinite amount of resources, both financial and human. And so you need to be strong. And what you know is your obligation and why there is such an importance to it, which is without the land we’re nothing. Without the land we don’t have a language. We don’t have a culture. We cease to be ronkwe people. Ronkwe people is all Indigenous people. That’s our word — Kanien’kéha word - we are People of the Flint — Kanien’kéha:ka, so there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about that and how it’s a very scary thing to be in the front. You get attacked from within and you get attacked on the outside. So you really have to be strong in your beliefs. And if you falter just a little bit, it can be detrimental to your mental health because it is a very stressful thing to carry this this burden. I say it’s a burden because we should have been able to resolve this in 1990. But the government never negotiated in good faith. They had no intention of resolving this peacefully as they do now. It’s a new government. They seem to be really friendly, but they’re actually not. They’re just repackaging colonization to justify land dispossession, saying that we are willingly giving up our land and we never have willingly given up our land. You have to be really stubborn, which I think is in our DNA. So I’m proud to be a stubborn Kanien’kéha:ka woman in all this. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388637/original/file-20210309-23-92ngj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388637/original/file-20210309-23-92ngj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388637/original/file-20210309-23-92ngj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388637/original/file-20210309-23-92ngj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388637/original/file-20210309-23-92ngj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388637/original/file-20210309-23-92ngj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388637/original/file-20210309-23-92ngj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mohawk activist Ellen Gabriel about to speak to the media in the summer of 1990. She was chosen by the People of the Longhouse and her community of Kanehsatà:ke to be their spokesperson during the ‘Oka Crisis,’ a 78-day standoff to protect ancestral Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) land in Québec.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/staff</span></span>
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<p><strong>VS:</strong> And you’ve been stubborn for, as you say, 31 years. I’m wondering, has anything improved? </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> Not for Kanehsata:ke. I think Kanehsata:ke has been punished over the last three decades. We have more land that has been taken from us by settlers and we are being silenced once again as we were in 1990 as traditional people. People who are following the original constitution and teachings of our ancestors that predate European arrival. When I look outside, yeah, I see a lot of improvements and a lot of changes. But even there, there’s still so much work to do on so many levels. And if we look at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action, there’s solutions in there which have to do with education because it’s a mindset, right? When you talk about peace for us, you have to have a good mind and that takes teachings. It takes education, which I think is absent from the educational system within Canada. And so it’s an uphill battle still for us. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Anne you’re also a lead defender, and also in your work you document land defenders. And I’m just going to take a moment to just to pause for a minute to ask what may be a basic question. But what is a land defender? Who are the land defenders? </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> For me, I think the land defender is not a title that you claim for yourself. It’s an action. And it’s about the practice of actually being on the land and reclaiming ancestral territories and territories that are under attack and insisting on a narrative that recognizes that these territories do not legitimately belong to the state, they don’t belong to Canada. When we talk about defence, it can seem like we’re just creating barriers from outside invasions. And some of the work is doing that because there are these really clear forms of invasion that are attempting to steal the land or steal the land again or repurpose it in ways that will damage it and damage our relations. It’s about protecting our relationships with the land and the water and the animals and upholding our responsibilities, which is part of what it means to be Indigenous Peoples. And it’s part of our teachings as Indigenous Peoples is to be holding those responsibilities and acting on them. And we’re consistently kept from being able to exercise those responsibilities by the state and by industry. And so our relatives are under attack in these spaces. And so part of our work is to protect them. And part of our work is to be able to deepen those responsibilities and those relationships in the face of this really violent industrial push onto Indigenous lands. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> You’re also a scholar and you spend some of your time documenting, not only participating in these movements. Can you describe a little bit of what you have seen? </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> When I’m out on the territories or when I’m in spaces of siege, is just to listen to the people who are trying to defend their own territories and listen to their experiences. There’s a witness saying that’s important there. I don’t think it’s my role to tell other people’s stories for them. I think that part of this is trying to tease apart what it is exactly we’re up against, and that that’s the place where scholarship can really make an impact in trying to tease apart this really violent machine that continues to attack our people and attack our lands and to figure out exactly what it is that they are trying to do. And I think that part of the reason that’s really important is because we’re not on the same page as settler Canadians. And despite the way that the current government talks about reconciliation and their desire for reconciliation, we still have a basic disagreement about the disagreement. There’s a continued attempt to try and redefine the land that we’re standing on. And so where we see a fight for our futures and for future generations and a deep responsibility towards the land, they see a construction site and they see the future of energy futures for the Canadian public. And so as long as we are not on the same page about those definitions — like we’re fighting over that imagination about — we want to imagine future generations living on on the land and being able to feed themselves from the land and being able to drink the water because it’s not contaminated. And so I think part of the work of scholarship is to figure out what the desires are of the settler state and so that we can imagine different things and are imagining different things for ourselves and our people. And land defence is bringing those things into reality. </p>
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<p><strong>VS:</strong> This was a year in some ways of really understanding that, well, for many people, I think just publicly this was a year of anti-racist uprisings. For me, it really drove home the idea of life and death movements. This idea that land defence movements continued even throughout the lockdown. Ellen, you’ve said that you thought the presence of satellite TV in 1990 saved your lives. And Anne at one point in a live stream video that circulated about the Wet'suwet'en protests with the RCMP guns pointed at you, you could be heard in the video shouting that “we are unarmed, we are peaceful.” </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> It’s been a very useful tool because mainstream media does not pick up the stories in our communities. I should mention that the Atikamekw woman, Joyce Echaquan, she recorded her own death, which sparked outrage for Indigenous People, at least here in Québec, and the demonstrating to the public that here’s some evidence for you to show you live some of the realities that we are facing. It’s also a double-edged sword because sometimes those things are used against us. You know, we always have to be the perfect ones. We are the ones that are faced with: we have to behave, we have to have peaceful resistance. So it’s a useful tool in that in having the world witnessed what probably was a worse experience for our ancestors. I think we are very privileged in this day and age, no matter where we are, to be able to have access to these. Because I am tired of people stealing the narrative. I am tired of people thinking that 1990 was about 60 warriors with weapons when there was a lot of people behind the lines who were not armed. I was never armed. And you know, it was difficult to show the facts. The police taking meat out of the donations that were coming from Six Nations and other communities and letting it sit in the sun. Our elders who went for chemotherapy and were forced to stand in the sun for two hours or four hours, people being strip searched, men being tortured by La Sûreté du Québec and the Canadian Army. So now we have the tools to show what is going on. And I think this is waking up people in a different sense. People act as if we have a choice to whether be on the front lines or not. No, we don’t, because if we do nothing it condones acts of aggression against our people. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Anne you’ve talked about technology as well. We’ve got something that’s faster and maybe more in the hands of the protester, of the defender. </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> I agree with Ellen that it is this kind of a double-edged sword. There’s a level of public awareness that would not be possible if we weren’t able to get the message out about what is happening and to get visuals out about what is happening without having to rely on mainstream media. And I think that, well I know that the RCMP and the state and industry view that as a threat to them. There are leaked reports that talk about the use of Twitter in the siege on Elsipogtog and they were very concerned about people’s ability to get that narrative out to the public without it being first filtered through mainstream media or through a state narrative. So I think that this can be really powerful and the ability to get these images out quickly in the siege on Wet'suwet'en really helped to spur the response and the acts of solidarity and action that were happening across the country and actually around the world. And so I think there’s something really powerful about that. Underlying that is that there are relationships, long-standing relationships between Indigenous nations that were the main strength of those solidarity actions came from those already underlying relationships. It wasn’t social media alone. It was social media layered on top of this already existing commitment to fight for each other and to not let other Indigenous nations be under attack without there being a powerful response. And I think this is something that we learned from the siege at Oka as well. That these solidarity responses are relationships that we’re building between each other. Those are really important. At the same time, there’s an element to social media that is is really frustrating to me. And that’s the need to present a spectacle in order to have people pay attention. Upwards of 70 tactical officers descended on a checkpoint with four people in order to get national attention on what was going on on Wet'suwet'en territory. Because, I mean, although that experience itself felt very violent and traumatizing, there is a daily violence that’s happening on that territory and many others where land defenders and supporters are being surveilled. There is constant police presence and police patrols. As Ellen said, you have to be the perfect person. If you slip up, they make you a criminal and that the constant presence of police and of industry and their ability to just continue to do work on territories where they have not received consent is a form of violence that I wish people cared about more because it’s killing people. It’s killing people in the present and in these often kind of imperceptible ways, people are going hungry because they can’t hunt on their territories. The contamination of the territories is causing rates of cancer in Indigenous communities that can only be explained by this colonial pressure to build and to continue to support industry, even when it’s having these effects on on Indigenous lives. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> What does the day to day look like? That’s not visible to everybody? </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> I think a lot of the time, and in ideal circumstances, it just looks like Indigenous people living on the land and all of the things that are involved in attempting to rebuild communities that are centred on the land. And so when we’re not being constantly interrupted by police, which is a sort of a daily thing that’s happening, people are going out hunting and they’re cooking for each other and they’re hiking around the territory and learning about the different plants and animals that are there and passing that knowledge along. The goal is just to be able to live as Indigenous people that is constantly being interrupted and challenged by the settler state and by industry. So it’s really hard to go out hunting when they’re upwards of 100 industry trucks driving by on the roads that you used to be able to just drive along without seeing anyone or when every time you go out to go berry picking, you’re followed by police. It’s not particularly glamorous a lot of the time, I think that there’s this view of Indigenous warriors as being like the sort of glamorous thing happening out in the territory. A lot of the time it’s just daily life and a consistent resistance to attempts to interrupt and disrupt that daily life. </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> I want to honour what Anne has been talking about, because this is what happened to us for at least a decade after the 1990 crisis. The surveillance has never stopped. There are daily helicopters flying over. And we have a select group of people within the community who can do things with impunity. And this is part of the colonial project, the divide and conquer. So I’m just at a loss for words. You always have to have hope. I have hope that the younger generation will be much kinder and gentler to the Earth and that they will wake up because we’re talking about generations, multigenerational trauma. We’re talking about multigenerational trauma, not just from Indian residential school, but from from defending the land and defending who you are. And land defence is not a spectacle. It’s not a fad. It’s something that we do simply because we have to we don’t have a choice. I raise my hands to Anne and Wet'suwet'en people and all the land defenders. From the Mi'kmaw to the north, we’re living in the prophecy time. We’re living in a climate both politically and spiritually, which is changing and not necessarily for the best. So the people who have those teachings, we need to speak to them. We need to encourage them to speak out. We do not have the luxury of time anymore. The changes are coming. And the Earth doesn’t need us to survive as a species. And that’s one thing that I think the egos of humankind need to come down a notch and say we’re not the most important thing here. How many species have become extinct because of the activities of people? Yesterday, I was thinking about this so-called democracy, a democracy that’s based on more power and more rights to corporations for the rich get richer and the people need to stand up to push back. That’s not a democracy. That’s authoritarianism. We need to decolonize our minds and how we look at land defenders. We’re not just defending the communities in which we live in. We are defending the whole thing of what constitutes sovereignty. Our version of sovereignty, our own definition. Not the colonizers’ definition of sovereignty. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I think the thing that always has struck me is that we’re supposedly in this era of reconciliation. And I’ve heard, Ellen, you said that reconciliation has to be alive before we can call it dead. And many of the Wet'suwet'en land defenders have said reconciliation is dead. And are we in an era of reconciliation or are we not? </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> Not. </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> I think there’s a question about whether or not reconciliation is even the goal, you know? I think you’re right, Ellen. The easy answer is that we’re not. The government would love to believe that we’re there. But I think that, I mean, I’ve said this before as well. You could look at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We’re still arguing over truth. You kind of have this image of people sitting down at a table and hashing things out, but words aren’t going to solve the issues that we’re dealing with. I think there is like a full reaccounting of what Indigenous people have suffered as a piece of it. And the fact is that we’ve subsidized the existence of Canada, we’ve subsidized the Canadian economy, which continues to pull resources from Indigenous lands without benefit, with actually a lot of detriments to Indigenous Peoples. And so, I don’t think reconciliation quite captures what it is that’s necessary. And so if that’s the ceiling when it comes to what we’re seeking in terms of justice and liberation, I don’t think it does it in and of itself. So, yeah, I definitely hear that, it would need to be alive in order for it to be to be dead. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I hear you say words, words aren’t going to solve this. What do you think will help? </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> I think that there’s always been a burden on Indigenous people to tell the government what it is we want, as if we haven’t been clear for generations and generations that what we want is the land. What we want is the ability to live on the land. And as is clearly stated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, the right to continued use and control over access to our lands. And that, that is one of the ways that we’re going to be fighting against this change in climate, all the environmental catastrophes that we’re facing. We’ve had to get pretty creative about how we do that while under colonial occupation. I think there’s a burden on settler Canadians and non-native people to take on some of that creative work and to try to imagine for themselves what it would mean to actually live in accordance with Indigenous law. I think that deepening relationships with Indigenous nations, if you’re living on someone else’s territory, then building a relationship with them is really important and continuing to kind of work into those relations and connections and to take up some of the responsibility that we’ve taken on for protecting the land. </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> One of the things that we’ve asked for is a moratorium on all development. And Minister Miller has said absolutely not. But a moratorium on development for us to at least to have a breather. You can be a short-term moratorium when we sit down and all the people understand what’s at stake. If we don’t do this, then this will happen. If we do do this, this is going to happen. That’s free prior and informed consent. And we’re not able to get even to that table. I think we need to educate people on the buzzwords that are used that repackage colonization so that there’s a better understanding of the games that are being played. They are playing games with our lives. So we are the dispensable people in Canada. Everybody talks about what a small percentage of the population in Canada. Yeah, at one point we were the majority and because of war and disease, a genocidal act happened and you killed off the majority of our people who had the knowledge and the language of understanding how to survive on this beautiful land. We’re not able to do that when there’s persistent land theft and it’s done under Canadian laws. They’re not including our perspective. They’re not respecting our rights. So it’s a very coercive and abrasive relationship, our relationship with Canada and all the buzzwords, the flowery speeches and all that. They don’t mean anything to me because there’s no actions behind those words. And until there is, I will continue to be a pessimist but a hopeful pessimist. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I was going to say, you don’t seem like a pessimist to me. You seem very hopeful in that you continue. So it seems to me like you are an optimist. </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> Yeah, I am. As an artist, you always have to try and find the beauty in life and maybe expressing yourself in a different way. You have to remain hopeful because there are children that depend on it. There’s another generation that depend on you, because it was it was a generation that I depended on to give me what I have today. So it is giving that back. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> You’ve spent some time analyzing resistance techniques, but also you’ve looked at colonial structures so that you might find the path of least resistance or pathways forward. I’m wondering if you can share some of those findings with us. </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> That’s like a nicer way of putting it than I probably would. I would say that I’m looking for vulnerabilities in an enemy, really, and places where the system can be dismantled and there’s a possibility for that. Still, I really understand the play between pessimism and optimism. I think that there is hope in the way that we show up for each other. And as Ellen said, resistance there in 1990 spurred a decades-long attempt to punish people for resistance. And I think that it’s also really important for us to make sure we make it clear that that is not acceptable, that we’re not going to allow other people, especially land defenders, to be made an example of. And so I think part of it is that we can do some narrative work. In this way words do matter to push back against the criminalization of land defence and land defenders, and that’s one place where I see some space for moving forward. I think there’s really technical work to be done when it comes to dismantling particular bureaucratic forms of violence. I think that if you look at environmental assessment regulations, there’s things that are present in this structure that are oppressive by design. Structures and processes and forms of paperwork that are intended and built to fast track industrial projects. They don’t have Indigenous consent built in. So part of what might be necessary if we’re wanting to work with the government when it comes to, say, implementing UNDRIP is to try and figure out how to build Indigenous consent into these processes, because right now it’s not even there. And so it’s irrelevant. It’s irrelevant. If Indigenous people say no to a project, it doesn’t matter in their process at the end of the day. </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> That requires resources. And I agree with everything you’ve said Anne. The frustration is you need people who are policy analysts, human rights lawyers. You need a team almost 24 hours a day just to watch what is going on in order to fight it. We’re fighting a big machine of industries that have the resources. And so little land defenders like myself, we’re just out there trying to get the people to wake up and to get the public to be on our side. And it takes a long time. And sometimes we don’t have the time. Sometimes by the time we’re able to catch our breath, that piece of land is gone. So I’d like to have a satirical court process where we put them on trial and people understand what it is that we’re trying to do. </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> I think that we’re seeing some really hopeful engagement from Indigenous youth and there’s, I think, real power there. But sometimes I also worry that the intergenerational aspect of our organizing is not there or is not as strong as it could be. Or that maybe where we’re not looking to the people we should be looking to, to tell us about how you know, how this fight has has been ongoing and what it was like decades past, those stories aren’t always accessible for us. But I’m wondering what you think about the role of intergenerational work and storytelling in resistance movements, given that you’ve seen this through for the past 31 years? </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> Well, I think it’s really important for people to listen under our great law. Everybody is important. That doesn’t matter what your age or gender is. So I find the colonial view of let’s let the youth lead is kind of wrong. It should be youth who have listened to elders have sat down and learned just like any form of leadership, it has to come with knowledge. And some youth can be elders in their own right, depending on how they were raised. But equality means that all age groups are listened to, all age groups are respected and have an equal voice. It’s just like, well, we’ve seen so much male leadership. Let’s see some of the women’s leadership. So we have to create a balance between how many voices are the kind of voices that are heard. I learnt from so many people over the last 30 years and some were not Indigenous people. But the elders that I listened to were Indigenous elders from all over the Americas. And the similarities that we have in our belief system is sort of reinforcing that motivation to continue to do the work. So it’s really including everybody and teaching the children to listen, teaching the children that they’re important, that they’re loved. We have to look at it holistically in every way, shape or form our mental, physical and spiritual help that we need on a daily basis. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I wanted to ask you about the idea of the need for this ongoing strength. And the name of this podcast is “Don’t Call Me Resilient,” which challenges that idea of the state of asking people to remain or praising them for their resilience in all of these ongoing battles. I’m wondering what you think about that notion of resilience. </p>
<p><strong>AS:</strong> I don’t think that the word itself is the problem. There is no individual resilience. And if we view it in that way, then we’re where we’re going to be weaker. I think that we only exist in connection to others in this network of relations and this web of relations that we find ourselves. And if we are resilient, it’s only because we have those connections to lean on because we’re being held up by others, whether human or otherwise. And I think that sort of widens this idea of resilience. </p>
<p><strong>EG:</strong> Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with Anne. I think it’s about strength. It’s about courage and how strongly you believe in what you’re doing. For me, I think one of the best ways to survive in all this is to feel the sun on my face and the wind, those beautiful summer winds, even the cold winter winds that make you feel alive. It’s all about feeling alive and being alive and what you do with that spirit that you were given when you’re born, that spirit that for now has a body but will be set free one day. And it’s really difficult to say. If you want to put a label on people who defend the land, then it can’t be resilient. It’s got to be something like courageous, compassionate people who whose spirit lives beyond this dimension. Because, like I said, I think we carry the spirit of our ancestors with us and and we’re never alone, no matter where we are. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Thank you both so much. That’s it for this episode of “Don’t Call Me Resilient.” Thanks for listening. If you want to continue the conversation on land defenders, find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">@ConversationCA</a> and use the hashtag #DontCallMeResilient. If you’d like to read more about land defenders and land rights, go to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca">TheConversation.com</a>. That’s where you’ll find our <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-land-defenders-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-6-156632">show notes</a> with links to stories and research connected to our conversation with Ellen Gabriel and Anne Spice. This is the end of season one for “Don’t Call Me Resilient.” If you like the podcast, please submit a review and share your experience and insights. </p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is a production of The Conversation Canada. This podcast was produced with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The series is produced and hosted by me, Vinita Srivastava. Our producers are Nahid Buie, Latifa Abdin and Nehal El-Hadi with additional editorial help from our intern Ibrahim Daair. Reza Dahya is our technical producer and sound guru. Anowa Quarcoo is in charge of marketing and production design. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada. Special thanks also to Jennifer Moroz for her indispensable help on this project. And if you’re wondering who wrote and performed the music we use on the pod, that’s the amazing Zaki Ibrahim. The track is called Something in the Water.</em> </p>
<p>Thanks for listening, everyone, and hope you join us again. Until next time. I am Vinita. And please don’t call me resilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Indigenous land defenders: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 6 transcript.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientIbrahim Daair, Culture + Society EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1549212021-03-10T17:33:20Z2021-03-10T17:33:20ZLogging company clears Cree Nation ancestral trail without recourse<p>Last summer, a logging company cleared approximately 1,200 metres of an Indigenous ancestral trail in <a href="https://www.bigstone.ca/">Bigstone Cree Nation</a> territory, <a href="http://treaty8.bc.ca/treaty-8-accord/">Treaty No. 8 region</a> (northern Alberta), in spite of government regulations in place to protect land. </p>
<p>As an ancient archeological site, the trail should have been protected by the <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/h09">Alberta Historical Resource Act</a>. A <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/historic-resource-impact-assessment.aspx">Historical Resource Impact Assessment</a> should have been conducted to assess the site’s protected value. </p>
<p>The logging company, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., conducted a “desktop” assessment. But no one physically visited the area, and the assessment missed identifying the trail. </p>
<p>The trail is a valued cultural place, as the Bigstone Cree Nation Lands Department repeatedly informed Alberta-Pacific. Darren Decoine, the Bigstone Lands Department GIS technician, repeatedly requested detailed maps of the logging plans from Alberta-Pacific, but he says they were never provided. The company is supposed to provide shapefiles (maps in raw data form) that the First Nation can overlay with their own data about traditional land use to see if any sites might be damaged. </p>
<p>The trail, which travels from Chipewyan Lake to the Wabasca River is often called the Hudson’s Bay Trail in English (many trails get called HBC trails). But that name is a misnomer, and the original sakaw nehiyawewin (Northern Bush Cree) name for it is awatasooskenow. Elders say the trail, which became an important transportation route between Bigstone settlements, camps and the river, predates the arrival of HBC fur traders. In the 1900s, there was a trading post on the river and people would haul freight on the trail.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A trail surrounded by green trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385398/original/file-20210221-21-e3wh7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385398/original/file-20210221-21-e3wh7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385398/original/file-20210221-21-e3wh7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385398/original/file-20210221-21-e3wh7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385398/original/file-20210221-21-e3wh7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385398/original/file-20210221-21-e3wh7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385398/original/file-20210221-21-e3wh7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Part of the trail is still intact.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Darren Decoine/Bigstone Cree Nation)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Deforestation</h2>
<p><a href="https://northlandforestproducts.com/">Northland Forest Products Ltd.</a> is actively logging in Bigstone Cree Nation’s traditional territory, as the largest timber company contracted under Alberta-Pacific’s <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/forest-management-agreements.aspx">Forest Management Agreement</a> area. Alberta-Pacific is the point of contact for the community and it assumes a large share of the forest management responsibility with government oversight.</p>
<p>In 1999, Alberta-Pacific funded and published a <a href="http://www.barbau.ca/content/kituskeenow-traditional-land-use-and-occupancy-study-bigstone-cree-first-nation">Bigstone Cree Nation land and occupancy study</a>, and the trail is clearly marked on all base maps and in a specific section on traditional trails. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385399/original/file-20210221-17-hfzhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Bigstone cultural trails, as depicted in a study funded by Alberta-Pacific.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bigstone Cree Nation, 1999. Kituskeenow: Cultural Land-use and Occupancy Study. Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary.)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in 2007, Bigstone Cree Nation erected large, clear signs that mark the trail at its intersection with the Alberta-Pacific logging road. The portion of the trail that has been recently logged is right behind one of the signs that read: “Husdon’s Bay Trail. Heavy equipment not permitted.” The logging company’s machinery operations would have had to drive off of the Alberta-Pacific logging road and around the sign to be able to log the trail. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign that says Hudson Bay Trail by green trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385393/original/file-20210221-19-1cq86iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385393/original/file-20210221-19-1cq86iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385393/original/file-20210221-19-1cq86iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385393/original/file-20210221-19-1cq86iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385393/original/file-20210221-19-1cq86iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385393/original/file-20210221-19-1cq86iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385393/original/file-20210221-19-1cq86iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sign marking the intersection of the trail and Alberta-Pacific logging road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Darren Decoine/Bigstone Cree Nation)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ancestral territory</h2>
<p>In 2007, Bigstone Cree Nation environmental monitors, including Elder Helen Noskiye and some of her siblings, directed a traditional land use assessment for Shell Oil’s proposed oilsands operations in the area. I was part of the team that hiked and monitored the trail at that time. Over a couple of weeks, we recorded at least 20 adjoining cultural places. I am currently part of a team of scientists that continues to collaborate with members of Bigstone Cree Nation on <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/university-calgary-bigstone-cree-nation-hunters-moose-1.5456077">food sovereignty and contamination research</a>.</p>
<p>Noskiye’s stories became central to the research because the trail is on her trapline. She grew up in the area that the trail transects and regularly travelled the trail by horseback. The area is part of her ancestral territory and it is where she and her relatives have always collected food and medicine. Her family camps there every summer in memory of her parents. When Noskiye found a significant portion of the trail logged in September 2020, she described the experience as akin to having her “skin peeled.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385423/original/file-20210221-21764-1l1va52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385423/original/file-20210221-21764-1l1va52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385423/original/file-20210221-21764-1l1va52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385423/original/file-20210221-21764-1l1va52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385423/original/file-20210221-21764-1l1va52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385423/original/file-20210221-21764-1l1va52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385423/original/file-20210221-21764-1l1va52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Area of trail that has been logged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Darren Decoine/Bigstone Cree Nation)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the reasons that traditional trails are revered in sakâwiyiniwak (Northern Bush Cree) life is that trails link people and places. This means that ancient, ceremonial, camping and harvesting sites are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315648468_Walking_the_Land_Aboriginal_Trails_Cultural_Landscapes_and_Archaeological_Studies_for_Impact_Assessment">all joined by trails.</a>People care for and tend to trails as they do berry and medicine patches, and seasonal fishing and hunting camps. </p>
<p>Now the camp where Noskiye grew up, along with a berry patch that she and a group of women actively tended to, has been destroyed. People from this area have a strong preference for, and their identity linked to, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/berry-patches-bears-oil-sands-in-boreal-forest-janelle/id1453126311?i=1000472785877">consuming traditional foods</a> and speaking their language. </p>
<h2>Need to consult</h2>
<p>Indigenous cultural heritage sites are assigned the same level of protection as all other site types like burials, ceremonial sites and cabins as classified by <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/heritage-conservation-protection.aspx">Alberta Heritage Conservation and Protection</a>. They are categorized as Historical Resource Value 4C. </p>
<p>The need for consultation with First Nations and Métis communities and traditional land-use assessment for any proposed development is backed up by the <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/indigenous-consultations-in-alberta.aspx">Government of Alberta’s consultation policies</a>. </p>
<p>Laura Golebiowski, who works as an Aboriginal consultation adviser for the Alberta Historic Resources Management Branch, has been working with Bigstone Cree Nation to record and protect cultural sites.</p>
<p>She said: “Technically, there are punitive measures in the <a href="https://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Acts/h09.pdf">Historical Resources Act</a> should a person contravene the act and damage, disturb or destroy historical resources. They can include a fine of not more than $50,000 or imprisonment (maximum one year), or both.” </p>
<p>But these measures have yet to be enacted over any First Nations cultural site. If a community wants to pursue charges under the Historical Resources Act, it has to contact the RCMP to begin the process. The <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/culture-multiculturalism-and-status-of-women.aspx">Ministry of Alberta Culture, Multiculturalism, and Status of Women</a> does not determine if an offence has occurred and whether or not charges should be laid. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/ca/podcasts">Click here to listen to Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bigstone Cree Nation’s land is on the west side of the Athabasca River and on top of the Athabasca oilsands deposit. The community has repeatedly been left out of Alberta’s decision-making about natural resource extraction. </p>
<p>The lack of recourse for clear violations of the Heritage Act is a deep insult, especially as all leaders have been provided with clear calls to action for participating in the <a href="http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Truth and Reconciliation</a> process. </p>
<p>Bigstone Cree Nation members continue to do the heavy lifting by monitoring company activities, and trying to protect treaty rights. They increasingly design and manage environmental research based on the Indigenous wisdom that they can trust.</p>
<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/65e610f9-842e-4091-b314-c985dc941f17?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a>
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janelle Marie Baker receives funding from Athabasca University, the Social Sciences, Humanities and Research Council of Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada.</span></em></p>Part of an Indigenous ancestral trail was cleared by a logging company last summer, despite it being a protected cultural site under Alberta law.Janelle Marie Baker, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1566322021-03-10T17:32:48Z2021-03-10T17:32:48ZIndigenous land defenders: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 6<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388629/original/file-20210309-15-1qyqt6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C455%2C4845%2C2870&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs perform a round dance at a blockade at a CN Rail line just west of Edmonton on Feb. 19, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/65e610f9-842e-4091-b314-c985dc941f17?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, we take a look at land rights and some of the people on the front lines of these battles. These are the land defenders fighting to protect land against invasive development. Both our guests have stood up to armed forces to protect land.</p>
<p>Their work is about protecting the environment. But it is much more than that: it is <a href="https://medium.com/asparagus-magazine/wetsuweten-gidimten-unistoten-pipeline-land-defenders-protectors-protest-arrest-4c5613f809c5">fundamentally about survival</a> and about the right to live openly on what is stolen land.</p>
<p>Ellen Gabriel has been resisting land encroachment for 31 years. She was at the centre of the 1990 Kanehsatake resistance, (known as the Oka crisis), a 78-day standoff <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/secretlifeofcanada">to protect ancestral Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) land</a> in Québec.</p>
<p>It was a moment in history that many say helped wake them up to Indigenous issues. </p>
<p>Anne Spice is a professor of geography and history at Ryerson University. Anne, who is Tlingit from Kwanlin Dun First Nation, was recently on the front lines in the defence of Wet'suwet'en land. After she was arrested on Wet'suwet'en territory last year, a viral video showed the RCMP pointing a gun at the land defenders. </p>
<p>Anne can be heard shouting, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/wet-suwet-en-video-rcmp-rifle-1.5463547">we are unarmed and we are peaceful</a>. </p>
<p>These are the moments that capture our collective attention. But Ellen and Anne’s work goes well beyond what the cameras show. </p>
<p>For a full transcript of this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-land-defenders-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-6-transcript-156633">go here</a>.</p>
<p>Every week, we highlight articles that drill down into the topics we discuss in the episode. </p>
<h2>This week:</h2>
<ul>
<li><p>Janelle Baker tells us how <a href="https://theconversation.com/logging-company-clears-cree-nations-ancestral-trail-without-recourse-154921">the Bigstone Cree First Nation in northern Alberta is resisting logging companies operating on traditional lands</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/blockadia-helped-cancel-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-and-could-change-mainstream-environmentalism-155276">‘Blockadia’ helped cancel the Keystone XL pipeline — and could change mainstream environmentalism</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>In case you missed it:</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/wetsuweten-why-are-indigenous-rights-being-defined-by-an-energy-corporation-130833">Wet'suwet'en: Why are Indigenous rights being defined by an energy corporation?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/back-to-the-land-how-one-indigenous-community-is-beating-the-odds-81540">Back to the land: How one Indigenous community is beating the odds</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/clearing-the-plains-continues-with-the-acquittal-of-gerald-stanley-91628">‘Clearing the plains’ continues with the acquittal of Gerald Stanley</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/journalists-covering-indigenous-peoples-in-renewable-energy-should-focus-on-context-and-truth-not-click-bait-122760">Journalists covering Indigenous Peoples in renewable energy should focus on context and truth, not click-bait</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-from-history-indigenous-womens-activism-in-saskatchewan-103279">Hidden from history: Indigenous women’s activism in Saskatchewan</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/law-professor-put-on-trial-for-trespassing-on-familys-ancestral-lands-114065">Law professor put on trial for ‘trespassing’ on family’s ancestral lands</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/historical-lawsuit-affirms-indigenous-laws-on-par-with-canadas-109711">Historical lawsuit affirms Indigenous laws on par with Canada’s</a> </p></li>
</ul>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"390871580672135168"}"></div></p>
<h2>Resources:</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://medium.com/asparagus-magazine/wetsuweten-gidimten-unistoten-pipeline-land-defenders-protectors-protest-arrest-4c5613f809c5">The Wet'suwet'en aren’t just protecting ‘the environment’</a>,
by Anne Spice.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/ellen-gabriel-on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-1990-oka-crisis">Ellen Gabriel on the 30th anniversary of the 1990 ‘Oka Crisis’</a>, by Ellen Gabriel.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/18/day-after-protestsinnewbrunswickfiresstillburn.html">Fires still burn after shale gas protests in New Brunswick</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://www.nfb.ca/film/kanehsatake_270_years_of_resistance">Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance</a></em>, Alanis Obomsawin, 1993.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>You can listen or subscribe on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<p><em>This podcast is produced by The Conversation with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</em> </p>
<p><em>It is hosted and produced by Vinita Srivastava. The producers are: Nahid Buie, Ibrahim Daair, Anowa Quarcoo, Latifa Abdin, Vicky Mochama, Nehal El-Hadi. Sound engineer: Reza Dahya. Audience development: Lisa Varano.</em></p>
<p><em>Theme music by <a href="https://sixshooterrecords.com/artists/zaki-ibrahim/">Zaki Ibrahim</a>. Logo by Zoe Jazz. Saniya Rashid is our research assistant supported by MITACS. Our CEO is Scott White. Thanks to Jennifer Moroz and Haley Lewis for their advice. Launch team: Imriel Morgan/<a href="https://contentisqueen.org/">Content is Queen</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In this episode of our podcast, we take a look at Indigenous land rights and the people on the frontlines of these battles.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAnowa Quarcoo, Assistant Editor, Audience DevelopmentIbrahim Daair, Culture + Society EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552762021-03-10T17:32:11Z2021-03-10T17:32:11Z‘Blockadia’ helped cancel the Keystone XL pipeline — and could change mainstream environmentalism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388831/original/file-20210310-14-xe73jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=251%2C99%2C3631%2C1757&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The direct confrontational tactics adopted by environmental activists over the past decade have transformed the global climate movement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent comment that Canada and the United States <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-meet-the-press-vaccines-saudi-arabia-keystone-1.5931364">will move forward after the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project</a>, the public debate on the fate of Alberta’s troubled bitumen sector still burns. </p>
<p>Back on Jan. 20, U.S. President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/">reversed the approval of the project</a>, fulfilling one of his election promises. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called the decision a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/27/alberta-leader-says-bidens-move-to-cancel-keystone-pipeline-a-gut-punch">gut punch</a>.”</p>
<p>For environmental groups, the cancellation of Keystone XL reset American climate policy that had been hit hard by the Trump administration. More crucially, it was a “<a href="https://350.org/press-release/biden-to-stop-keystone-xl/">people-powered victory</a>” following more than 10 years of grassroots action that drew on economic and legal means to stop the pipeline. </p>
<p>Their <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/environmental-groups-keep-fighting-kxl-despite-biden-s-promise-to-block-pipeline-1.5221397">sustained political pressure</a> was a notable contributing factor to Biden’s decision. Many members of the coalition against Keystone XL opted for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-015-9289-0">direct confrontational tactics, such as marches, mass arrests, lockdowns and blockades</a> that went beyond the strategies typically used by environmental groups. </p>
<p>Known as “blockadia,” these tactics have transformed the global climate movement in substantive ways — and it may surge once again after COVID-19 lockdowns are relaxed and lifted. </p>
<h2>The rise of blockadia</h2>
<p>Naomi Klein popularized the term “blockadia” in her book <a href="https://naomiklein.org/this-changes-everything/"><em>This Changes Everything</em></a>. She writes that blockadia is the “roving transnational conflict zone […] where ‘regular’ people […] are trying to stop this era of extreme extraction with their bodies or in the courts.” </p>
<p>Beginning with a series of small direct actions that put emphasis on social justice to the environmental movement, <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2013/01/12/welcome-to-blockadia-enbridge-transcanada-tar-sands/">Blockadia was a “web of campaigns” local activists launched against oilsands pipelines, including Keystone XL and the Northern Gateway</a> in the early 2010s. </p>
<p>At the time, other social movements such as <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2013/01/11/idle-no-more-rises-to-defend-ancestral-lands-and-fight-climate-change-bill-mckibben/">Idle No More</a> were also using confrontational tactics to stop the flow of fossil fuels and disrupt the business-as-usual mode preferred by many big corporations. The movement established a new paradigm in mainstream North American environmentalism. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large group of people gather in the snow holding the flags of Indigenous nations." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388825/original/file-20210310-19-1qb4gxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Military veterans and Indigenous elders stop for a ceremonial prayer during a march to a spot near the Dakota Access oil pipeline site in Cannon Ball, N.D., in December 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/David Goldman)</span></span>
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<p>Conventional environmental campaigns are marked by eye-catching celebrity environmentalism, advocacy activities targeting law makers and “not in my backyard” movements motivated by local concerns. Although blockadia has incorporated these strategies, the spread and success of it indicates three major developments. </p>
<p>First, participants of blockadia think more in terms of <a href="https://eeb.org/blockadia-map-reveals-global-rise-of-anti-fossil-fuel-blockades/">what is legitimate than what is legal</a>. Consequently, confrontational tactics and civil disobedience actions are legitimized by an “us versus them” framing. Blockadia is mobilized by a sense of planetary emergency, further radicalizing environmentalism.</p>
<p>Second, blockadia strives to combine environmental and social justice concerns. This is arguably why movements under this umbrella term have led to the formation of unexpected political coalitions. Consider, for instance, the <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/cowboy-indian-solidarity-challenges-the-keystone-xl/">alliance of ranchers and Indigenous communities formed during the fight against Keystone XL</a>, as well as the solidarity with the Idle No More movement <a href="https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2015v40n4a2958">non-Indigenous peoples have expressed on social media</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fridaysforfuture-when-youth-push-the-environmental-movement-towards-climate-justice-115694">#Fridaysforfuture: When youth push the environmental movement towards climate justice</a>
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</em>
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<p>Third, blockadia is decentralized. Despite outspoken activists like Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, small local organizations brought together by shared environmental concerns drive the success of blockadia. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2015.1105177">Social media</a> played a crucial role in coalition-building among these organizations. </p>
<p>In the case of transnational resistance to Keystone XL, organizations such as <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/groups/nokxl-promise-to-protect">the Promise to Protect coalition</a> are fighting together for globally minded local concerns. Their opposition is motivated by a range of things, from the threat of potential spills or the risk to local waterways, but they are all aware of the global implications of their local actions. In the words of environmental researcher <a href="https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/search/publication/8982818">Meike Vedder</a>, the rise of blockadia indicates a shift from “not in my backyard” to “not on my planet.” </p>
<h2>The future of environmental activism</h2>
<p>The collective efforts of diverse groups have not only contributed to the delays and cancellations of high-profile pipeline projects like Keystone XL and Northern Gateway, they have been growing around the globe as well. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/ca/podcasts">Click here to listen to Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://ejatlas.org/">The Environmental Justice Atlas project</a>, launched in 2015, has documented over 3,000 environmental conflicts around the globe. Many of them echo blockadia’s populist, pro-democractic push for fossil fuel divestment and a “just transition.” </p>
<p>Whether blockadia is able to fundamentally shift the dynamics of mainstream environmentalism remains uncertain. It will depend on the ability of blockadia-inspired actions to transform local concerns into broader quests for environmental and social justice. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-build-support-for-ambitious-climate-action-in-4-steps-155636">How to build support for ambitious climate action in 4 steps</a>
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<p>The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18922-7">temporarily decreased global carbon dioxide emissions</a> and prompted ongoing public conversations on “<a href="https://www.resilientrecovery.ca/">resilient recovery</a>.” Blockadia could bounce back when lockdown measures are lifted. </p>
<p>The key lesson offered by the Keystone XL cancellation to Canadian energy politics is: if policies won’t address populist demands for radical departure from subsidizing the oil and gas sector, the public anger on climate inaction will carry on. Although blockadia began as an anti-Keystone XL campaign, it is likely to continue to disrupt the established policy discussions on Canada’s commitment to taking action on climate change. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sibo Chen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A web of local environmental action campaigns launched against oilsands pipelines a decade ago helped bring an end to Keystone XL.Sibo Chen, Assistant Professor, School of Professional Communication, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1496922021-01-27T14:28:59Z2021-01-27T14:28:59ZListen to ‘Don’t Call Me Resilient’: Our podcast about race<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380452/original/file-20210125-17-1qo4pw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C32%2C4280%2C2825&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fists raised in solidarity for George Floyd in Charlotte, N.C.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/qT7fZVbDcqE">(Unsplash/Clay Banks)</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="480px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/fb609e39-d729-4a54-860a-8a411be157ae?dark=true&show=true"></iframe>
<p>Today, we are launching <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, a new podcast about race and racism.</p>
<p>If you’ve struggled with how to understand what is going on around you when it comes to race and racism and how and why it matters, our new podcast, <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, can help with that. </p>
<p>Resilient is a beautiful word and yet, as our podcast title says, don’t call me that. Why? </p>
<p>I’ve read and heard many hopeful stories over the past year about people being resilient in the face of adversity. With millions of tragic deaths due to COVID-19 worldwide, as well as job losses, illness and the psychological impact of a racial reckoning, many people are dealing with trauma in resilient ways.</p>
<p>We should always celebrate resilience: the human ability to recover or adjust to difficult conditions. But for many marginalized people, including Black, Indigenous and racialized people, being labelled resilient — especially by policy-makers — has other implications. The focus on resilience and applauding people for being resilient makes it too easy for policy-makers to avoid looking for real solutions. </p>
<p>Our society is marked by <a href="https://theconversation.com/unmasking-the-racial-politics-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-139011">deep systemic divides</a> and many are recognizing this fact in new ways. People of colour have to deal with racism every day — <a href="https://theconversation.com/microaggressions-arent-just-innocent-blunders-new-research-links-them-with-racial-bias-145894">be it microaggressions at work</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/beware-of-bias-training-addressing-systemic-racism-is-not-an-easy-fix-142587">the larger impacts of systemic racism</a> that can create life and death situations. These issues are constant. And the only way to survive is to be resilient.</p>
<p>In response to President Barack Obama’s call to be resilient after the devastating impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, activist and lawyer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4itfAVq19U&ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish%22%22">Tracie Washington told Al Jazeera’s <em>Fault Lines</em></a>: “Stop calling me resilient…. Because every time you say, ‘Oh, they’re resilient,’ that means you can do something else to me. I am not resilient.” </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247816684763">Maria Kaika</a> at the University of Manchester picked up on that discussion:</p>
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<p>“If we took Tracie Washington’s objection seriously, we would stop focusing on how to make citizens more resilient ‘no matter what stresses they encounter,’ as this would only mean that they can take more suffering, deprivation or environmental degradation in the future … focus instead on [trying] to change these factors.…”</p>
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<p>Today, we are launching <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, a new podcast about race and racism in which we discuss solutions in the way Washington and Kaika are suggesting. We take listeners deep into conversations with scholars and activists who view the world through an anti-racist lens. </p>
<p>We explore these critical issues — from dealing with the pain of racism, to inequity in our schools, to Indigenous land rights — in a way that is intimate, authentic and at times, uncomfortable. Instead of calling those who’ve survived the pain of systemic racism “resilient,” this podcast goes in search of solutions for those things no one should have to be resilient for.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands at a police barrier on the street. Two white police offers in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380890/original/file-20210127-17-6kdlu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Vinita Srivastava, host of ‘Don’t Call Me Resilient’ has been a journalist for over 20 years: here she is reporting from New York City, in the mid-‘90s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>In our trailer, I refer to myself as Sister Killjoy: I first read this term in Ama Ata Aidoo’s novel, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17449857808588504"><em>Our Sister Killjoy</em></a>. </p>
<h2>Listen wherever you get your podcasts</h2>
<p>The first episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> went live on Feb. 3, 2021. You can listen to all of the episodes or subscribe on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
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<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Season 1: Race 101</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-call-me-resilient-a-new-podcast-from-the-conversation-149692"><strong>Season 1 Trailer: Don’t Call Me Resilient</strong></a>
Don’t Call Me Resilient is a provocative new podcast about race from The Conversation. Host Vinita Srivastava takes you deep into conversations with scholars and activists who view the world, its problems, and the way forward through an anti-racist lens. Instead of calling those who have survived the pain of systemic racism “resilient,” this podcast goes in search of solutions for the things no one should have to be resilient for.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-in-a-word-how-to-confront-150-years-of-racial-stereotypes-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-1-153790"><strong>EP 1: What’s in a word? How to confront 150 years of racial stereotypes</strong></a>
We keep hearing stories about white and non-Black people – including academics – somehow thinking it’s ok to use the n-word. Ryerson University Professor Cheryl Thompson, author of ‘Uncle: Race, Nostalgia and the Politics of Loyalty,’ joins us to discuss how North American society spent the last 150 years creating racist stereotypes and language, how they continue to persist today – and what we might do to help stop it.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-deal-with-the-pain-of-racism-and-become-a-better-advocate-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-2-154631"><strong>EP 2: How to deal with the pain of racism – and become a better advocate</strong></a>
A global protest movement calling for an end to racism and police brutality sparked new conversations about race. But it also surfaced a lot of pain for those who deal daily with racism. Where do we go from here? The writer, activist and Zen priest Reverend angel Kyodo williams speaks about the pain of racism, and how she uses meditation to combat it – and become a stronger anti-racist activist in America today.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spark-change-within-our-unequal-education-system-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-3-152355"><strong>EP 3: How to spark change within our unequal education system</strong></a>
Even before COVID-19, education experts were sounding the alarm about the future of racialized children in our schools. And the COVID-19 pandemic has only underscored – even deepened – the divide. Carl James, professor of education at York University and Kulsoom Anwer, a high school teacher who works out of one of Toronto’s most marginalized neighborhoods, Jane and Finch, join us to discuss the injustices and inequalities in the education system – and the way forward.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-treat-migrant-workers-who-put-food-on-our-tables-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-4-153275"><strong>EP 4: How we treat migrant workers who put food on our tables</strong></a>
Documentary filmmaker and OCAD University associate professor Min Sook Lee has been documenting the voices of migrant farm workers in Canada for two decades. What she has to say about how these workers have been treated during COVID-19 shatters any remaining myths about “Canada the Good.” How do we treat the workers that put food on our tables?</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/black-health-matters-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-5-155950"><strong>EP 5: Black health matters</strong></a>
When COVID-19 first appeared, some said it was the great equalizer. But the facts quickly revealed a grim reality: COVID-19 disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, poor and racialized communities. Roberta K. Timothy, assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, joins us to talk about her global research project, Black Health Matters, and why racial justice is a public health matter.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-land-defenders-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-6-156632"><strong>EP 6: Indigenous land defenders</strong></a>
Two Indigenous land defenders join us to explain why they work to protect land against invasive development and why their work is necessary for everyone’s survival. Ellen Gabriel, a human rights activist and artist well known for her role as a spokesperson during the 1990 Oka crisis, and Anne Spice, a professor at Ryerson University, discuss the importance and urgency of defending land.</p>
<h2>Season 2</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-stories-about-alternate-worlds-can-help-us-imagine-a-better-future-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-7-165933"><strong>EP 7: How stories about alternate worlds can help us imagine a better future: Don’t Call Me Resilient</strong></a>
Stories are a powerful tool to resist oppressive situations. They give writers from marginalized communities a way to imagine alternate realities, and to critique the one we live in. In this episode, Vinita speaks to two storytellers who offer up wonderous “otherworlds” for Indigenous and Black people. Selwyn Seyfu Hinds is an L.A-based screenwriter who wrote for Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone and is currently writing the screenplay for Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black. Daniel Heath Justice is professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous literature and expressive culture at the University of British Columbia.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/stolen-identities-what-does-it-mean-to-be-indigenous-dont-call-me-resilient-podcast-ep-8-166248"><strong>EP 8: Stolen identities: What does it mean to be Indigenous?</strong></a>
Over the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of high-profile figures accused of falsely claiming Indigenous identity, of being “Pretendians.” These cases have become big news stories, but they have big real-life consequences, too. Misidentifying as Indigenous can have financial and social consequences, with the misdirection of funds, jobs or grants meant for Indigenous peoples. Vinita delves into it all with two researchers who look at identity and belonging in Indigenous communities: Veldon Coburn from the University of Ottawa and Celeste Pedri-Spade from Queen’s University.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/model-minority-blues-the-mental-health-consequences-of-being-a-model-citizen-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-9-166620"><strong>EP 9: Model minority blues: The mental health consequences of being a model citizen</strong></a>
The pandemic has taken a toll on our collective mental health. But according to a recent Statistics Canada report, South Asians reported a steeper decline than any other diaspora in Canada. Why? The idea of being a model minority — of having to live up to exacting high standards — is a big part of it. Two long-time researchers and activists join Vinita for an intimate conversation about that and other reasons why South Asians are struggling so badly, and what can be done about it. Maneet Chahal is co-founder of SOCH, one of the few mental health organizations specifically for South Asians. Satwinder Bains is the director of the South Asian Studies Institute and professor of social cultural media studies at the University of the Fraser Valley.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/being-watched-mass-surveillance-amplifies-racist-policing-and-threatens-the-right-to-protest-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-10-167522"><strong>EP 10: Being Watched: How surveillance amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest</strong></a>
Many of us know our personal data is being collected online and used against us – to get us to buy certain things or vote a certain way. But for marginalized communities, the collection of data and photos has much bigger implications. Vinita is joined by two researchers who are calling for new protections for the most vulnerable populations. Yuan Stevens is the Policy Lead in the Technology, Cybersecurity and Democracy Programme at the Ryerson Leadership Lab and Wendy Hui Kyong Chun is professor and Canada 150 Research Chair in new media at Simon Fraser University.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-pollution-is-as-much-about-colonialism-as-chemicals-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-11-170696"><strong>EP 11: Why pollution is as much about colonialism as chemicals</strong></a>.
The state of our environment just keeps getting scarier and scarier, yet it feels like we have yet to find a way forward. Two Indigenous scholars who run labs to address the climate crisis say bringing an Indigenous understanding to environmental justice could help us get unstuck. A big part of that is seeing pollution through a new lens – one that acknowledges it is as much about racism and colonialism as it is toxic chemicals. Vinita talks to Michelle Murphy, Professor and Canada Research Chair in science and technology studies and leader at the University of Toronto’s Environmental Data Justice Lab. Also joining is Max Liboiron, author of Pollution is Colonialism, and associate professor in geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/making-our-food-fairer-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-12-171554">EP 12: Making our food fairer </a></strong>
One out of every eight households in Canada is food insecure. For racialized Canadians, that number is higher – two to three times the national average. In this episode, Vinita asks what is happening with our food systems, and what we can do to make them fairer with two women who have been tackling this issue for years. Melana Roberts is Chair of Food Secure Canada and one of the leaders behind Canada’s first Black food sovereignty plan. Also joining the conversation is Tabitha Robin Martens, assistant professor at UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Martens researches Indigenous food sovereignty and works with Cree communities to bolster traditional land uses.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/will-smiths-oscar-slap-reveals-fault-lines-as-he-defends-jada-pinkett-smith-against-chris-rock-podcast-180280"><strong>Bonus EP 13 Will Smith’s Oscar slap reveals fault lines as he defends Jada Pinkett against Chris Rock</strong></a>
In this special edition, we chat with Cheryl Thompson, professor of performance about how “the slap heard around the world” is part of a layered story of racism, sexism, power and performance.</p>
<h2>Season 3: Refusal and resistance</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/unmarked-graves-of-215-indigenous-children-were-found-in-kamloops-a-year-ago-whats-happened-since-podcast-182728"><strong>EP 14: Unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children were found in Kamloops a year ago: What’s happened since?</strong></a>
It’s been a year since the unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children— some of them as young as three years old—were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. In this episode, Vinita speaks to Veldon Coburn, assistant professor at the Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies at the University of Ottawa about what happened, the widespread grief and outcry and the immediate political response, but also, how none of that lasted despite communities continuing to find bodies. Joining Vinita on the episode is Haley Lewis, Don’t Call Me Resilient producer and culture and society editor at The Conversation Canada. Lewis is mixed Kanyen'keha:ká from Tyendinaga and led our coverage of the findings last year. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/niqab-bans-boost-hate-crimes-against-muslims-and-legalize-islamophobia-podcast-180012"><strong>EP 15 Niqab bans boost hate crimes against Muslims and legalize Islamophobia</strong></a>
Last year, as a Muslim Canadian family took their evening stroll during the lockdown in London, Ont., a white man rammed his pickup truck into them. Four of the five family members were killed. The incident sparked horror and outrage. But the truth is, anti-Muslim sentiment has been on the steady rise in the 20 years since 9/11. According to a report from July 2021 by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, more Muslims have been killed in Canada in targeted attacks and hate crimes than in any other G7 country. Our guest today says that instead of deterring anti-Muslim hate, Canadian laws are actually making it worse - in essence, legalizing Islamophobia. Natasha Bakht is an award-winning legal scholar who has spent the past five years researching the rise in anti-Muslim attitudes in North America. She is a professor in the faculty of law at the University of Ottawa and the author of In Your Face: Law, Justice, and Niqab Wearing Women in Canada.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/tiktok-is-more-than-just-a-frivolous-app-for-lip-syncing-and-dancing-podcast-182264"><strong>EP 16 TikTok is more than just a frivolous app for lip-synching and dancing</strong></a><br>
TikTok started off as a platform to create musical, lip-syncing and dance videos. And right now, it’s not just popular, it’s the most downloaded app in the world. It’s not just fun and games though: TikTok has also become a platform to learn and expose yourself to new ideas. As TikTok is helping its users build strong communities, it’s also important to explore how the app’s algorithm is treating marginalized folks and their stories. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/diamond-mines-are-not-a-girls-best-friend-podcast-183972"><strong>EP 17: Diamond mines are not a girl’s best friend</strong></a>
When you think diamonds, you probably think of romance, weddings and Valentine’s Day. And it’s no accident we think this way: A century of marketing has convinced us that diamonds symbolize love. In Canada, glossy magazine ads celebrate the “purity” of Northern Canadian diamonds as an ethical alternative to conflict diamonds. And Canada has become the third-largest diamond producer in the world. But this marketing strategy hides enormous social problems that people living near the mines say they’ve experienced. This includes some of Canada’s highest rates of violence against women. The story our guests tell today is not one of numbers. Instead, they’re sharing narratives gathered and collected through interviews and sharing circles about how lives have changed after the mines opened. Our guests today are: Rebecca Hall, assistant professor of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University and the author of Refracted Economies: Diamond Mining and Social Reproduction in the North and Della Green, former Victim Services Coordinator, at The Native Women’s Association of the Northwest Territories</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-you-shouldnt-be-afraid-of-critical-race-theory-podcast-183973"><strong>EP 18 Why you shouldn’t be afraid of Critical Race Theory</strong></a>
Today we explore how applying critical race theory in classrooms across Canada helps both students and teachers. Teresa Fowler, assistant professor of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton joins us. So does Dwayne Brown, a PhD student in Education at York University, and a grade seven teacher with the Toronto District School Board. Both Brown and Fowler use critical race theory in their classrooms every day, and say that it helps them to see and evaluate their own biases—while also making students feel truly included in their own education.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-powerful-sounds-of-protest-amplify-resistance-podcast-182263"><strong>EP 19 The powerful sounds of protest amplify voices of resistance</strong></a>
How can a convo about marginalized voices and soundscapes of resistance amplify voices of resistance? How do sonic media practitioners use the practice of field recording as a form of protest and resistance. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/has-the-meaning-behind-the-canadian-flag-changed-podcast-183974"><strong>EP 20 Has the meaning behind the Canadian flag changed?</strong></a>
As we approach Canada Day — and the prospect of the return of “freedom” protests in Ottawa — let’s consider the meaning and symbolism of the Canadian flag. After weeks of the so-called freedom convoy last winter, many of us took a hard look at the symbolism of the Canadian flag and its recent association with white supremacy. Some felt a new fear or anger at what they feel the flag represents. But other communities have always felt this way about the Canadian flag. Other movements like Resistance150, Idle No More, Pride and Black Lives Matter have also raised awareness about challenges to Canadian nationalism and belonging. Both of our guests have studied multiculturalism, citizenship and belonging. Daniel McNeil looks at history and culture and the complexities of global Black communities. He is a professor and Queen’s National Scholar Chair in Black Studies at Queen’s University. Lucy El-Sherif is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto in ethnic and pluralism studies. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/about-the-queen-and-the-crowns-crimes-or-how-to-talk-about-the-unmourned-podcast-191141"><strong>Bonus EP 21: About the Queen, the Crown’s crimes and how to talk about the unmourned</strong> </a>
In the middle of the tremendous outpouring of love and grief for the Queen and the monarchy she represented, not everyone wants to take a moment of silence. And there are a lot of reasons why.</p>
<h2>Season 4: Challenges and hope</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-unfairness-of-the-climate-crisis-podcast-192469"><strong>EP 22 The unfairness of the climate crisis</strong></a>
Western industries and governments have refused to accept responsibility for climate change despite being the main drivers of it. Meanwhile, the Global South and Black and Indigenous communities globally have continued to bear the brunt of its impact. As world leaders gather in Egypt for COP27 — the United Nations Climate Change Conference — will this inequity finally be addressed? Join Vinita and Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies at York University, to discuss our responsibilities towards those worst affected by climate change. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-isnt-anyone-talking-about-who-gets-long-covid-podcast-191659"><strong>EP 23 Why isn’t anyone talking about <em>who</em> gets long COVID?</strong></a>
Long COVID has been called a mass-disabling event. It hits one in every five people, and hits Black and Latinx women especially hard. Vinita dives into why that is - and why we’re not talking about it - with Margot Gage Witvliet, who has insights into long COVID both as a Black woman who has been suffering the effects of it, and as a social epidemiologist who studies it. Margot is an assistant professor at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. She has presented her long COVID findings to the United States Task Force on equity and COVID and runs an online support and advocacy group for BIPOC women living with long COVID.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-decolonize-journalism-podcast-192467"><strong>EP 24 How to decolonize journalism</strong></a>
For decades, Canadian media have covered Indigenous communities with a heavy reliance on stereotypes - casting Indigenous peoples as victims or warriors. This deep-seated bias in the news can have unsettling consequences for both how a community perceives itself as well as how others perceive them. Award-winning Anishinaabe journalist and longtime CBC reporter Duncan McCue is trying to change that both in the classroom and in the newsroom. He joins Vinita to talk about what Canadian media could be doing better.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-corporate-diversity-statements-are-backfiring-podcast-190726"><strong>EP 25: Why corporate diversity statements are backfiring</strong></a>
Companies have amped up their rhetoric about equity and inclusion, many churning out diversity statements. But Vinita’s guest today says their promises to promote anti-racist cultures without action plans can lead to greater blocks to success for racialized employees. Sonia Kang is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management - and one of Canada’s leading experts on identity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-podcast-194145">EP 26 How can we slow down youth gun violence?</a></strong>
In 2007, 15-year-old Jordan Manners became the first student to be shot and killed inside a Toronto school. Since then, youth violence hasn’t let up in Canada’s largest city. In fact, it’s getting worse. Devon Jones and Ardavan Eizadirad say it’s a major problem that needs a more holistic approach. Ardavan is an assistant professor in the Department of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University who studies the root causes of gun violence. He and Devon run Y.A.A.C.E. –a community organization started by Devon that tackles the root causes of youth gun violence in Toronto. They join Vinita to talk about what has been going wrong and how to get it right.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-so-funny-about-race-podcast-192470">EP 27 What’s so funny about race?</a></strong>
A lot of comedians we know and love put race, ethnicity and cultural stereotypes at the centre of their comedy. This gives us - the audience - reason to laugh…and a way to release some of the tensions around race. Where is the line between a lighthearted joke and deep-rooted racism? And how far is too far? Vinita gets into it with Faiza Hirji, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Media Arts at McMaster University and stand-up comedian Andrea Jin. They look at how comedy can be an easier way to talk about difficult issues,, and at how we can find a way to laugh with each other, rather than at each other. </p>
<h2>Season 5</h2>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/roxham-road-asylum-seekers-wont-just-get-turned-back-theyll-get-forced-underground-podcast-202699">EP 28 Roxham Road: Asylum seekers won’t just get turned back, they’ll get forced underground</a></strong>
Before the Safe Third Country Agreement, which was signed in 2002, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., both countries could reject asylum seekers at official border crossings. But there was a small loophole that provided a slim window for people desperately looking for a way into Canada. People who crossed at unofficial border crossings could still claim asylum. In this episode, migration expert Christina Clark-Kazak explains the devastating consequences of last week’s meeting between United States President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The meeting resulted in significant changes to a cross-border agreement and has already impacted the lives of thousands of asylum seekers attempting to make a life in Canada.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-vatican-just-renounced-a-500-year-old-doctrine-that-justified-colonial-land-theft-now-what-podcast-203229">EP 29 The Vatican just renounced a 500-year-old doctrine that justified colonial land theft … Now what?</a></strong>
The Vatican finally distanced itself from the Doctrine of Discovery — a hundreds of years old decree that justified land theft and enslavement of people who were not Christian. In this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, political and Indigenous studies scholar Veldon Coburn explains why the Vatican’s repudiation of the Doctrine is a huge symbolic victory. We also examine what this repudiation may mean for members of Indigenous Nations, what prompted this renouncement, and what still needs to happen.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-fashion-why-garment-workers-lives-are-still-in-danger-10-years-after-rana-plaza-podcast-203122">EP 30 Fast Fashion: Why garment workers’ lives are still in danger 10 years after Rana Plaza</a></strong>
Ten years ago this month, much attention turned to the global garment industry when a group of garment factories collapsed at Rana Plaza near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The accident, called a “mass industrial homicide” by unions in Bangladesh, killed 1,124 people and injured at least 2,500 more. Most of the people who went to work that day were young women, almost all were supporting families with their wages and all were at the bottom of the global production chain. This week on Don’t Call Me Resilient, we look back at the Rana Plaza disaster to explore how much — or how little — has changed for garment worker conditions since.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-brilliance-of-netflixs-beef-be-lost-in-the-shadow-of-a-sexual-assault-controversy-podcast-203321">EP 31 Will the brilliance of Netflix’s ‘Beef’ be lost in the shadow of a sexual assault controversy?</a></strong>
Beef is a dark comedy series created by Lee Sung Jin. It follows two L.A. strangers, courageously played by Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who get into a road rage incident — and end up in an escalating feud. But over the weekend, a Twitter storm erupted after a podcast episode featuring supporting actor David Choe resurfaced. In the 2014 podcast, Choe vividly relays a sexual assault story where he is the perpetrator. Choe has apologized since and has also said the story was made up. This week on Don’t Call Me Resilient, Michelle Cho, an assistant professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto and Bianca Mabute-Louie, a PhD student in Sociology at Rice University; join Vinita to explore the advances Beef has made in television, the limits of those advancements and ask whether the brilliance of Beef will be overshadowed by Choe’s controversial history.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-crown-jewels-tell-us-about-exploitation-and-the-quest-for-reparations-podcast-204000">EP 32 What the Crown Jewels tell us about exploitation and the quest for reparations</a></strong>
Much of what was called the British Empire was built from stolen riches — globally — and much of that was from India. In fact, India was such an abundant contributor to the Crown that at the time of its occupation of South Asia, Britain called India the Jewel in its Crown. India was called this because of its location — easy access to the silk route, but mostly because of its vast human and natural resources: things like cotton, and tea and of course its abundance of jewels. Joining Vinita to explore the history and meaning behind these jewels is Annie St. John-Stark, assistant professor of British history at Thompson Rivers University and Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, instructor of history at both the University of the Fraser Valley and the University of British Columbia. </p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/will-a-un-resolution-to-commemorate-the-expulsion-of-palestinians-from-their-lands-change-the-narrative-listen-204799">EP 33 Will a UN resolution to commemorate the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands change the narrative?</a></strong>
Seventy-six years ago, starting on May 15, Palestinians were driven off their land. This event is what Palestinians have come to refer to as the Nakba. In Arabic, Nakba means catastrophe. The UN’s recent resolution to recognize Nakba Day on May 15, to mark the anniversary of the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948, helps to acknowledge past traumas but does the resolution have other implications? On this week’s episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we meet up with M. Muhannad Ayyash, professor of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary to help unpack some of the meanings behind this resolution.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-60-per-cent-of-incarcerated-women-are-mothers-listen-204020">EP 34 More than 60 per cent of incarcerated women are mothers</a></strong>
Mother’s Day is just a few days away. It can be a complicated day. For some, it could mean a bouquet of flowers or a breakfast in bed. For others, it can mean mourning the loss of a loved one or dealing with a haunted past. And still — for others — like the 66 per cent of incarcerated women in prison who are mothers, it can mean something else entirely. On this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we are joined by Rai Reece, professor at Toronto Metropolitan University who researches prisons and feminist criminology. Lorraine Pinnock also joins us. She is the Ontario Coordinator for the Walls to Bridges program which helps women with education when transitioning out of the system. </p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/decolonize-your-garden-this-long-weekend-dig-into-the-complicated-roots-of-gardening-listen-205720">EP 35 Decolonize your garden: This long weekend, dig into the complicated roots of gardening</a></strong>
The May long weekend is the unofficial start of summer. And for those of you with home gardens or access to community space, this is the weekend to dust off your gardening tools and visit the garden centre for the growing season ahead. As we approach the start of gardening season, it’s good time to ask some questions about its origins. In this episode we explore the complicated roots of the garden, including who gets to garden. We also discuss practical tips about what to plant with an eye to Indigenous knowledge. We speak with researcher Jacqueline L. Scott and also chat with community activist, Carolynne Crawley, who leads workshops that integrate Indigenous teachings into practice.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-a-5th-generation-new-yorker-traces-her-family-history-and-finds-the-roots-of-anti-asian-violence-and-asian-resistance-204721">EP 36 A 5th generation New Yorker traces her family history and finds the roots of anti-Asian violence – and Asian resistance</a></strong>
<em>Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming</em> artfully explores themes of exclusion as it relates to all Chinese Americans. These themes resonate personally for the author Ava Chin, with her father a “crown prince” of Chinatown that she didn’t meet until adulthood. Chin reveals personal family stories against the backdrop of the U.S. eugenics movement and draws a connecting line between the current rise in violence against Asians in North America and anti-immigration laws more than 100 years old. In this episode, author and CUNY professor Ava Chin, a 5th generation Chinese New Yorker, discusses her new book.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-trans-scholar-and-activist-explains-why-trans-rights-are-under-attack-206259">EP 37 Trans scholar and activist explains why trans rights are under attack</a></strong>
Lately we’ve seen an aggressive push to implement anti-trans legislation across the United States. What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following some of the same trends? Recently, a petition signed by over 160,000 people asked the Canadian government to extend asylum to trans and gender non-conforming people from nations in the West, previously considered safe. To get a better understanding of trans histories in Canada, we are joined by Syrus Marcus Ware, an artist, activist and assistant professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University. He is a co-curator of Blockorama/Blackness Yes! and a co-editor of Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-indian-pm-modi-is-expected-to-get-a-rockstar-welcome-in-the-u-s-how-much-is-the-diaspora-fuelling-him-206260">EP 38 Indian PM Modi is expected to get a rockstar welcome in the U.S. How much is the diaspora fuelling him?</a></strong>
On June 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first official state visit to the United States. And if his visits to Australia last month, to Canada in 2015 and to Texas in 2019 were any indication, he was given a rockstar welcome. U.S. President Joe Biden had already joked that he wanted Modi’s autograph because so many people want to see the Indian PM while he’s in the United States. In this episode, Anjali Arondekar, professor of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz joins the podcast to answer important questions about Modi’s support. We are asking how important is that diaspora? With India having one of the highest remittance rates in the world, how much does overseas support contribute to Modi’s popularity and success? And what kind of an impact could a progressive element of that diaspora have on Indian politics?</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-why-preserving-indigenous-languages-is-so-critical-to-culture-204348">EP 39 Why preserving Indigenous languages is so critical to culture</a></strong>
Language is much more than a way to communicate with words. This is especially true if you have had your language forcibly removed from you, like the thousands of Indigenous children who survived Canada’s colonial assimilation project. Languages hold within them philosophies, worldviews, culture and identity. As we look ahead to National Indigenous Peoples Day, guest host Prof. Veldon Coburn speaks with Prof. Frank Deer, Canada Research Chair and associate dean of Indigenous Education at the University of Manitoba to tackle the issue of disappearing Indigenous languages and delve into how much more needs to be done to revitalize them and why doing so is critical.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-widespread-use-of-ozempic-for-weight-loss-could-change-how-we-view-fatness-206457">EP 40 Widespread use of Ozempic for weight loss could change how we view fatness</a></strong>
It seems like everywhere you look these days, on TikTok, on the sides of buses, in news headlines, you see Ozempic, the drug originally created as a diabetes treatment, but now being used as a weight-loss method. While Ozempic may just be the next in a long line of get-thin-quick fads, it’s already causing a lot of issues, many of which are especially felt by racialized communities. As the use of Ozempic, a drug for diabetes, slams into the mainstream as a weight-loss method, Fat and disability studies professor Fady Shanouda, who examines anti-fat bias in medicine looks into the drug’s use impact our concept of fatness, how fatness intersects with race and class and how the craze for Ozempic deepen racial and class disparities?</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-indiana-joness-last-ride-a-legacy-to-celebrate-or-bury-208557">EP 41 Indiana Jones’s last ride: A legacy to celebrate or bury?</a></strong>
As the Indiana Jones series comes to an end, we explore Indy’s complicated legacy — and his famous line: “it belongs in a museum.” Will Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny reflect the changes in anthropology departments and the growing movements from Indigenous and Global South communities to return stolen objects and ancestors from western museums? Will it consider that Eurocentric notions of what holds heritage has finally expanded beyond the artifact? Historian Christopher Heaney professor of Latin American History at Penn State University joins Vinita to unpack everything Indiana Jones.</p>
<h2>Season 6</h2>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-search-for-the-unmarked-graves-of-children-lost-to-indian-residential-schools-214437">EP 42 Inside the search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools</a></strong>
More than 150,000 Indigenous children from across Canada were forced to attend Indian Residential Schools. And as we know, many never made it home.Now, there are ongoing efforts to find the final resting places of those missing children.As we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we take you inside the ongoing quest to document the children who died in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools system. On this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we speak to Terri Cardinal, director of Indigenous initiatives at MacEwan University, about the work she did to uncover the unmarked graves of those who died at the Blue Quills Residential School in Alberta.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-brown-and-black-people-supporting-the-far-right-214800">EP 43 Why are brown and Black people supporting the far right?</a></strong>
But at last week’s GOP primary presidential debates, three of the seven people on stage were candidates of colour. Racialized citizens also have been drawn to far-right politics, including key players in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol and recent racist attacks. Which begs the question: Why are racialized people upholding white supremacist ideologies that work against them? Daniel Martinez HoSang, a professor of Ethnicity, Race and Migration and American Studies at Yale University, has been exploring this question for a long time. He is the author with Joseph Lowndes of Producers, Parasites, Patriots, Race, and the New Right Wing Politics of Precarity. HoSang sat down with us to discuss what they call the politics of multicultural white supremacy.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/detangling-the-roots-and-health-risks-of-hair-relaxers-215413">EP 44 Detangling the roots and health risks of hair relaxers
</a></strong>
For decades, Black women have been using hair relaxers to help them “fit into” global mainstream workplaces and the European standards of beauty that continue to dominate them. More recently, research has linked these relaxers to cancer and reproductive health issues — and a spate of lawsuits across the United States, and at least one in Canada, have been brought by Black women against the makers of these relaxants.
In this reflective and personal episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, Prof. Cheryl Thompson of Toronto Metropolitan University and author of Beauty in a Box untangles the wending history of hair relaxers for Black women — and the health risks now linked to them.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-corporate-landlords-are-eroding-affordable-housing-and-prioritizing-profits-over-human-rights-215582">EP 45 How corporate landlords are eroding affordable housing — and prioritizing profits over human rights</a></strong>
One factor driving the housing crisis across the country is a shift away from publicly built housing toward large corporate-owned buildings where, as today’s guest Prof. Nemoy Lewis puts it, “housing is treated as a commodity, not a human right.” For many people living in Canada, housing has emerged as one of the most challenging issues. This is especially true in our largest cities, where financial stress plagues many households. Today’s guest, Prof. Nemoy Lewis from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University, discusses the disproportionate impacts these corporate landlords are having on Black and low-income communities — in income-polarized cities that are increasingly accessible to only a small group of wealthy people.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-israel-gaza-conflict-is-so-hard-to-talk-about-216149">EP 46 Why the Israel-Gaza conflict is so hard to talk about</a></strong>
It’s hard to escape the horrific images coming out of the Middle East. And it’s excruciating to take it all in. Many of us have been left with a feeling of helplessness as we watch in horror. For others, this witnessing has brought personal anguish, especially for those with ties to the region. On Don’t Call Me Resilient, our two guests today - Natalie Rothman, a professor of historical and cultural studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough who grew up in Israel and Norma Rantisi, professor of geography and urban planning at Concordia University who has done work in the region and has family in the West Bank - both say our institutions need to make room for a true dialogue. One where decolonization is not a bad word. They say a contextual, historical analysis is crucial to moving forward — both at home and abroad.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-journalists-tell-buffy-sainte-maries-story-matters-explained-by-a-60s-scoop-survivor-216805">EP 47 How journalists tell Buffy Sainte-Marie’s story matters — explained by a ’60s Scoop survivor</a></strong>
Last week, a CBC investigation accused Buffy Sainte-Marie, the legendary singer-songwriter, of lying about her Indigenous roots. Sainte-Marie had already come out on social media ahead of the story and explained she had been claimed by the Piapot Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan. And from earlier conversations on the Don’t Call Me Resilient podcast as well as articles written by expert scholars about so-called “pretendians” — those faking an Indigenous identity — I knew kinship ties were maybe even more important than genealogy tests when it comes to establishing Indigeneity. Lori Campbell, a ’60s Scoop survivor and a VP at the University of Regina, challenges the CBC’s motives in their exposé on the questionable Indigenous roots of Buffy Sainte-Marie, legendary singer-songwriter.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-georgia-using-extreme-legal-measures-to-quell-cop-city-dissenters-216482">EP 48 State of Georgia using extreme legal measures to quell ‘Cop City’ dissenters</a></strong>
Earlier this week, nearly five dozen people appeared in a courtroom near Atlanta to answer criminal racketeering and domestic terrorism charges brought against them by the state. The charges are related to what’s commonly known as “Cop City,” a $90-million paramilitary police and firefighter training facility planned for 85 acres of forest near Atlanta. Georgia prosecutors are calling the demonstrators “militant anarchists.” But many of those charged say they were simply attending a rally or a concert in support of the Stop Cop City movement. In this episode, we speak with Kamau Franklin, a long-time community organizer and the founder of Community Movement Builders. Also joining us is Zohra Ahmed, assistant professor of law at the University of Georgia. A former public defender in New York, she, too, has been watching this case closely.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/palestine-was-never-a-land-without-a-people-217765">EP 49 Palestine was never a ‘land without a people’</a></strong>
Some of us assume that the violence between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians — a majority of whom are Muslim — is a religious conflict, but a closer look at the history of the last century reveals that the root of the tension between the two communities is more complicated than that. At its root, it’s a conflict between two communities that claim the right to the same land. For millions of Palestinians, it’s about displacement from that land. Modern settlers to Palestine viewed the desert as something they needed to “make bloom.” But it already was, thanks to the long history of Palestinian agricultural systems.
Our guests on this episode have been working on a film about the importance of preserving Palestinian agriculture and food in exile. Elizabeth Vibert, a professor of colonial history at University of Victoria and Salam Guenette is the consulting producer and cultural and language translator for their documentary project. </p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-potential-of-psychedelics-to-heal-our-racial-traumas-218233">EP 50 The potential of psychedelics to heal our racial traumas
</a></strong>
Judging from the colourful signs advertising mushrooms that we are seeing on our streets and the presence of psychedelics in pop culture, we are in the middle of a psychedelic renaissance. For example, in the TV program Transplant, a Syrian Canadian doctor experiencing trauma is treated by his psychiatrist with psilocybin therapy. On a more official front, the Canadian Senate recommended the federal government fast-track a research program into how psychedelics can help veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD covers a range of issues, including racial trauma, which is the conversation Vinita has with Clinical psychologist and professor Monnica Williams.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-school-aged-boys-so-attracted-to-hateful-ideologies-218700">EP 51 Why are school-aged boys so attracted to hateful ideologies?</a></strong>
Anecdotally, and in polls conducted by Angus Reid and the Girl Guides of Canada, school-aged children are expressing concern about the sexist, homophobic and racist attitudes they are experiencing in their classrooms. And the research supports them: experts say the rise in far-right ideologies globally has impacted school-age students.Teresa Fowler of Concordia University of Edmonton and Lance McCready of University of Toronto look at the current rise of white supremacy and how that rise has filtered down into the attitudes of school-aged boys.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-politicians-to-solve-our-food-bank-crisis-curb-corporate-greed-and-implement-a-basic-income-219086">EP 52 Dear politicians: To solve our food bank crisis, curb corporate greed and implement a basic income</a></strong>
Have you noticed the line ups for the food banks in your city? (Or have you had to join one?) They are getting longer in a way we’ve never seen before. According to the stats, the number of people using food banks has doubled since last year and one in 10 people now rely on food banks in Toronto. Our guest on this episode is Elaine Power, professor of health studies at Queen’s University and co-author of The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice. She has spent years working on this issue and says reducing food insecurity requires our political and business leaders to address the root causes — including the ability of household incomes to meet basic needs. </p>
<p><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/american-fiction-is-a-scathing-satire-that-challenges-pop-culture-stereotypes-of-blackness-217988">EP 53 ‘American Fiction’ is a scathing satire that challenges pop-culture stereotypes of Blackness</a></strong>
The lead character of the new movie American Fiction is Monk. He’s a Black man but never feels ‘Black’ enough: he graduated from Harvard, his siblings are doctors, he doesn’t play basketball and he writes literary novels. Prof. Vershawn Ashanti Young of University of Waterloo and Prof. Anthony Stewart of Bucknell University join forces to break down the many layers of Monk’s story and why Black stereotypes remain so persistent in pop culture.</p>
<p><em>Season 6 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and executive producer. Our associate producer and audience development consultant is Ateqah Khaki. Our associate producer is Danielle Piper. Our assistant producer is Kikachi Memeh. Rehmatullah Sheikh is our sound editor. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.</em></p>
<p><em>Season 5 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and executive producer. Our Associate Porducer and audience development consultant is Ateqah Khaki. Our assistant producer is Kikachi Memeh. Rehmatullah Sheikh is our sound editor. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.</em></p>
<p><em>Season 4 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and executive producer. Our associate producer is Dannielle Piper. Our assistant producer is Rithika Shenoy. Rehmatullah Sheikh is our sound editor. Our audience development consultant is Ateqah Khaki. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.</em></p>
<p><em>Season 3 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and producer. Our coproducer and audio editor is Lygia Navarro. Reza Daya is our sound designer. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Vaishanavi Dandekar is an assistant proudcer. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.</em></p>
<p><em>Season 2 credits: Vinita Srivastava is the host and producer. Our coproducer is Susana Ferreira. Our associate producer is Ibrahim Daair. Reza Dahya is our sound producer. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada. Theme music: Zaki Ibrahim, Something in the Water.</em> </p>
<p><em>Season 1 credits: Our coproducer is Nahid Buie. Assistant producers are: Ibrahim Daair, Anowa Quarcoo, Latifa Abdin. Sound engineer: Reza Dahya. Audience development: Lisa Varano. Theme music by <a href="https://sixshooterrecords.com/artists/zaki-ibrahim/">Zaki Ibrahim</a>. Logo by Zoe Jazz. Our CEO is Scott White. Jennifer Moroz is our consulting producer. Launch team: Imriel Morgan/<a href="https://contentisqueen.org/">Content is Queen</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is a production of The Conversation Canada. This podcast was produced with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</em> </p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of story originally published on Jan. 27. 2021. The earlier story said Tracie Washington’s words came in response to a post-Katrina environment strategy for the city of New Orleans. Instead, they were said in response to President Obama’s call for resilience after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Don’t Call Me Resilient is a provocative podcast about race that goes in search of solutions for those things no one should have to be resilient for.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1451582020-09-09T20:10:44Z2020-09-09T20:10:44ZSix Nations Land Defenders in Caledonia reveal hypocrisy of Canada’s land acknowledgements<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357271/original/file-20200909-20-1xkv9qi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=66%2C18%2C1325%2C753&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This dispute over land in Caledonia is complex and builds on 500 years of colonization.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fund-1492-land-back-lane">(1492 Land Back Lane Legal Fund)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This summer, Land Defenders from Six Nations occupied a disputed tract of land in Caledonia, an hour south of Toronto. <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/08/30/bitter-land-dispute-results-in-blockade-on-six-nations-in-caledonia.html">The dispute</a> about a proposed real estate development escalated to a standoff between the government and the Six Nations Land Defenders. <a href="https://theturtleislandnews.com/index.php/2020/08/06/nine-arrested-rubber-bullets-fired-six-nations-takes-land-back-at-housing-development-site/">The Ontario Provincial Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the Land Defenders</a>. </p>
<p>Six Nations people, however, say they need the land for their own growing population. <a href="https://www.iheartradio.ca/610cktb/audio/one-dish-one-mic-skylar-williams-from-1492-landback-lane-august-23rd-2020-1.13296677?mode=Article">They have renamed the tract “1492 Land Back Lane.”</a> They say the <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/videos/explaining-the-1492-land-back-lane-camp-and-agreements-made/">band council does not represent them</a>. The land is part of an ongoing dispute, which <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/videos/mohawk-lawyer-explains-the-1492-land-back-lane-camp/">is complex</a> and builds on 500 years of colonization. </p>
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<h2>Land rights and land acknowledgements</h2>
<p>Everyone in Canada has heard or said a land acknowledgement at some point. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/canadas-land-acknowledgments-draw-criticism--from-the-indigenous-peoples-theyre-supposed-to-honor/2019/07/25/8479ab14-accd-11e9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html">Many institutions say a land acknowledgement at the opening of their event: from schools to sports leagues to the office of the prime minister of Canada</a>. And they are becoming increasingly widespread in the United States. </p>
<p>What is the point of Canadians saying land acknowledgements <em>ad infinitum</em> if Indigenous Peoples’ land is still being taken from them? </p>
<p>They are everywhere, but don’t mean anything. </p>
<p>The disputes <a href="https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2020/08/26/no-small-task-to-remove-occupiers-from-caledonia-construction-site-police-say.html">between Haldimand County, Ontario and Haudenosaunee Six Nations activists</a> highlight these land acknowledgements. How effective are they to remind citizens of Canada’s colonial history and of the history of Indigenous-settler relations? </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-the-land-walking-the-talk-of-indigenous-land-acknowledgements-125369">Learning the Land: Walking the talk of Indigenous Land acknowledgements</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Land rights and history</h2>
<p>My research examines <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2017.1409590">how Canadians learn citizenship</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.25158/L8.2.2">how newcomers are taught citizenship in ways that erase Indigenous rights</a>. </p>
<p>Canada and the United States are both built on a continent taken from its people by <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-2/they-have-stolen-our-lands">coercive theft</a>, <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/colonial-genocide-in-indigenous-north-america">genocide</a> and <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/colonial-lives-of-property">forcible sale</a>. Indigenous Peoples have been living on this land for thousands of years. They are not part of the past but are living in the present. The Indigenous Peoples living today are survivors of colonization.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An areal view of a highway blockade over Grand River." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357263/original/file-20200909-14-sq3f55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357263/original/file-20200909-14-sq3f55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357263/original/file-20200909-14-sq3f55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357263/original/file-20200909-14-sq3f55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357263/original/file-20200909-14-sq3f55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357263/original/file-20200909-14-sq3f55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357263/original/file-20200909-14-sq3f55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The dispute in Grand River is not new. This is a 2006 image from an Indigenous blockade of Highway 6 over Grand River in Caledonia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(GSMacLean)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The main point of land acknowledgements is to teach us that this land is theirs, and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/gyajj4/who-is-a-settler-according-to-indigenous-and-black-scholars">non-Indigenous</a> people have responsibilities in sharing it. </p>
<h2>Land acknowledgement teachings</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/328403.The_Production_of_Space">Our relationship with Canada as a nation has at least three layers</a>: the stories we associate with Canada, the symbols that represent Canada and the practices we view as normal to a Canadian. Land acknowledgements teach us different lessons about all three. </p>
<p>Land acknowledgements remind Canadians that we have been taught deadly untruths. The long-standing official history and stories of Canada have been told as if the place was an empty land that John Cabot “discovered” and pioneers populated. </p>
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<img alt="A bridge with the graffiti, 'This is Indian Land' over a river." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357300/original/file-20200909-16-1h44byw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357300/original/file-20200909-16-1h44byw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357300/original/file-20200909-16-1h44byw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357300/original/file-20200909-16-1h44byw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357300/original/file-20200909-16-1h44byw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357300/original/file-20200909-16-1h44byw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357300/original/file-20200909-16-1h44byw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘This Is Indian land’ is written across a bridge at Garden River First Nation, 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:This_Is_Indian_land_1.JPG">(Fungus Guy/Wikimedia)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Canadian symbols still revere colonial settler violence that continues to cost lives. John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, intentionally starved Indigenous people and founded Indian residential schools, but was featured on Canada’s $10 bill up until 2018. </p>
<p>Schools named after him and statues of him still abound across Canada. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/defund-police-protest-black-lives-matter-1.5705101">One such statue was recently pulled down</a> at an anti-racist protest. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/european-colonisation-of-the-americas-killed-10-of-world-population-and-caused-global-cooling-110549">European colonisation of the Americas killed 10% of world population and caused global cooling</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Land acknowledgements remind us that our practices on this land cannot continue to be settler business as usual, which has been an incessant taking of land for development through the means of Canadian law. </p>
<p>Instead, we need <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2020/08/24/statement-from-concerned-haudenosaunee-women-regarding-injunctions-at-1492-land-back-lane/">land restitution</a>. We need to draw on <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-things-will-outlast-us-how-the-indigenous-concept-of-deep-time-helps-us-understand-environmental-destruction-132201">Indigenous knowledge to restore the environmental balance</a>. </p>
<p>Land acknowledgements carry teachings of a different story of Canada. With this more accurate story of Canada, Canadian imagination, symbols and practices cannot remain the same. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-SFcgtcUTjs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The case against Sir John A. Macdonald — and the case for him.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Colonialism is in the present</h2>
<p>Many Canadians point to reconciliation and land acknowledgements as ways of assuaging the conflict they feel about Canada’s origins. But reconciliation has become another version of colonial control, saying the words but not doing the actions. </p>
<p>Some Indigenous thinkers characterize the current land acknowledgements as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/redrawing-the-lines-1.4973363/i-regret-it-hayden-king-on-writing-ryerson-university-s-territorial-acknowledgement-1.4973371">patronizing, box-checking exercises</a>.</p>
<p>Land acknowledgements have become useful alibis for some who think the work of reconciliation and rebuilding relationships with Indigenous people is being done. The 1492 Land Defenders in Caledonia are letting everyone know that land dispossession is still happening right now. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/caledonia-injunction-mckenzie-land-back-1.5698689">Land Defenders spokesperson Skylar Williams is being criminalized</a>. The Six Nations Land Defenders are up against “the rule of law,” a structure that has been set up in Canada as “one everyone needs to respect.” </p>
<p>However, it was the same <a href="https://www.osgoodesociety.ca/book/white-mans-law-native-people-in-nineteenth-century-canadian-jurisprudence/">Canadian rule of law that usurped the land</a>. With clockwork regularity, Canadian law still <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trans-mountain-pipeline-challenge-bc-first-nations-supreme-court-of-canada-1.5634232">rules that Indigenous rights to their lands are secondary to oil and gas development</a>. </p>
<p>A Yellowhead Institute paper on land dispossession says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://redpaper.yellowheadinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/red-paper-report-final.pdf">“The infrastructure to ‘legally’ steal our lands is important to understand.”</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Canadian legal system has consistently dispossessed, starved and supported violence towards Indigenous people for several hundred years. </p>
<p>We are past the point of uttering a land acknowledgement and thinking that it’s the end of our responsibilities towards the people on whose land we live. It is time for all Canadians to step up and put into action the teachings of land acknowledgements. </p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published on Sept. 9, 2020. The original story made reference to a 42.3-acre parcel of land. That land was acquired by Six Nations in an agreement and not purchased by the developer as the original story indicated. The earlier story also said Caledonia was north of Toronto, but it is south of Toronto.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy El-Sherif has received funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. </span></em></p>Land Defenders from Six Nations occupied a disputed land to highlight the fact that Canadians have a long way to go when it comes to learning what land acknowledgements are supposed to teach us.Lucy El-Sherif, PhD candidate, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.